Lepidotes

Lepidotes
Temporal range: Early Jurassic
Fossil specimen of L. gigas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Clade: Ginglymodi
Order: Lepisosteiformes
Family: †Lepidotidae
Genus: †Lepidotes
Agassiz, 1832[1]
Type species
†Lepidotes gigas
Agassiz, 1832
Species[3]
  • †L. elvensis (Blainville, 1818) (orig. Cyprinus)
  • †L. gigas (type) Agassiz, 1832
  • †L. semiserratus Agassiz, 1836
  • †L. buelowianus Jaekel, 1929[2]
Synonyms[4]
Genus synonymy
  • Lepidosaurus Meyer, 1833
  • Serobodus Münster, 1812
  • Sphaerodus Agassiz, 1833
  • Plesiodus Wagner, 1863
  • Prolepidotus Zeitschr, 1983
Species synonymy
  • L. elvensis
  • Cyprinus elvensis de Blainville, 1818
  • Lepidotes gigas Agassiz, 1832
  • Lepidotus gigas (Agassiz, 1832) Agassiz, 1833
  • Lepidotus elcensis Quenstedt, 1847 (lapsus calami)
  • L. semiserratus
  • Lepidotus latissimus Agassiz, 1833
  • Lepidotus umbonatus Agassiz, 1833
  • L. gallineki
  • Prolepidotus gallineki (Michael, 1863) Michael, 1893
  • L. tuberculatus
  • Lepidotus unguiculatus Agassiz, 1837
  • Shaerodus minor Agassiz, 1844
  • Pycnodus rudis Phillips, 1871

Lepidotes (from Greek: λεπιδωτός lepidōtós, 'covered with scales') (previously known as Lepidotus)[5] is an extinct genus of Mesozoic ray-finned fish. It has long been considered a wastebasket taxon, characterised by "general features, such as thick rhomboid scales and, for most of the species, by semi-tritorial or strongly tritorial dentition".[clarify][6] with dozens of species assigned to it.[4] Fossils attributed to Lepidotes have been found in Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks worldwide.[7][8][9][10] It has been argued that Lepidotes should be restricted to species closely related to the type species L. gigas, which are only known from the Early Jurassic of Western and Central Europe, with most other species being not closely related, with other species transferred to new genera such as Scheenstia.[7] Lepidotes belongs to Ginglymodi, a clade of fish whose only living representatives are the gars (Lepisosteidae). The type species L. gigas and close relatives are thought to be members of the family Lepidotidae, part of the order Lepisosteiformes within Ginglymodi, with other species occupying various other positions within Ginglymodi.[7]

  1. ^ Agassiz, L. (1832), Untersuchungen über die fossilen Fische der Lias-Formation. Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefaktenkunde 3: 145
  2. ^ Lepidotes buelowianus
  3. ^ López-Arbarello, A. (2012). "Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Ginglymodian Fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii)." PLoS One, 7(7): e39370. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039370
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference woodward1895 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Hunterian Museum Geology Collections. "Lepidotes" Archived 2017-03-12 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ^ Cavin, Lionel; Deesri, Uthumporn; Olive, Sébastien (2020-03-18). "Scheenstia bernissartensis (Actinopterygii: Ginglymodi) from the Early Cretaceous of Bernissart, Belgium, with an appraisal of ginglymodian evolutionary history". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (6): 513–527. Bibcode:2020JSPal..18..513C. doi:10.1080/14772019.2019.1634649. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 199631685.
  7. ^ a b c López-Arbarello, Adriana (2012-07-11). Steinke, Dirk (ed.). "Phylogenetic Interrelationships of Ginglymodian Fishes (Actinopterygii: Neopterygii)". PLOS ONE. 7 (7): e39370. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...739370L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039370. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3394768. PMID 22808031.
  8. ^ John G. Maisey, Discovering Fossil Fishes, 1996:150, 152.
  9. ^ Bonde, N.; Cristiansen, P. (2003). "New dinosaurs from Denmark". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 2. 2 (13): 13–26. Bibcode:2003CRPal...2...13B. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00009-5.
  10. ^ Clemmensen, Lars B.; Milàn, Jesper; Adolfssen, Jan Schulz; Estrup, Eliza Jarl; Frobøse, Nicolai; Klein, Nicole; Mateus, Octávio; Wings, Oliver (2015-12-16). "The vertebrate-bearing Late Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of central East Greenland revisited: stratigraphy, palaeoclimate and new palaeontological data". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 434 (1): 31–47. doi:10.1144/sp434.3. ISSN 0305-8719. S2CID 130069487.